FTC investigates whether ISPs sell your browsing history and location data

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The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the privacy practices of major Internet service providers, and it has ordered top ISPs to disclose whether they share user Web browsing histories, device location information, and other sensitive data with third parties. ISPs also have to provide details on how they collect and use personal information to target advertisements at consumers.

The FTC yesterday sent orders demanding information to AT&T, Comcast, Google Fiber, T-Mobile, and Verizon. In the cases of AT&T and Verizon, the FTC sent separate information requests for the companies' home Internet and mobile broadband divisions.

All major ISPs denied selling or sharing their users' browsing histories and other sensitive information in 2017, when they convinced Congress and President Trump to prevent implementation of broadband privacy rules. But since then, it has been reported that T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T were selling their mobile customers' location information to third-party data brokers despite promising not to do so.

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